The Time Machine
by Bleh
Summary: Izzy has invented a time machine and the digidestined travels 25 years into the future! What will happen when they meet their future selves? Please review!
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon or any other characters in this story. And, well, I own the time machine as well.  
  
*************************************************************  
  
"My latest and greatest invention so far," Izzy said grandly, gesturing to the gigantic, sofa-like machine. "The time machine,"  
  
"Time machine?" The rest of the digidestined echoed.  
  
"You called us over to your house to see this lousy machine?" Tai asked incredulously. "What a waste of time."  
  
"Look here," Izzy said excitedly, pressing a small button by a funny triangular screen. The words, "CHINA, QIN DYNASTY", popped out. "If anyone tries this machine now they'd go back to the Qin Dynasty of China in the past," Izzy said.  
  
"Can't we go into the future?" Mimi asked.  
  
"Oh, sure!" Izzy said. He pressed the button again. The words, "Odaiba, Japan, Year 2027" appeared in the screen,  
  
"Are you sure this thing is reliable?" TK asked.  
  
"Of course!" Izzy said crossly, "I spent months working on this! How can you not trust me?"  
  
He looked at the kids expectantly. "So?" He said, "Who wants to try?"  
  
The kids looked at each other. Nobody moved.  
  
"Come on, be more enthusiastic," pleaded Izzy.  
  
"Davis wants to try," Matt said. He pushed Davis forward. Davis who was standing quite near the machine, lost his balance and fell forward. His foot pressed a red button, and he collapsed onto the strange sofa. ZAP, Davis was gone.  
  
"Davis!" everyone cried in horror.  
  
"Oh, wow!" Izzy exclaimed, "Davis has gone all the way to Odaiba, Japan, 2027!"  
  
"I hope he's okay," Matt said worriedly.  
  
"Should we go and find him?" Kari wondered.  
  
"Maybe?" Cody said uncertainly. "I'm NOT going in there," Yolei said firmly. "We might never come back!"  
  
"What if Davis never comes back?" Ken wondered.  
  
"Touchwood!!" Izzy cried, "Davis will return in three hours. I assure you, it's very safe."  
  
"I think I better go," Matt said, "I pushed Davis in, after all. Are you sure we'll return in three hours?"  
  
Izzy nodded.  
  
Matt took a deep breath, stepped onto the machine and ZAP, he was gone too.  
  
"Who wants to go as well?" Izzy asked.  
  
The others stared at the floor.  
  
"It'll be a blast," Izzy said, "I'm going as well, I want to try it out. Please, guys!"  
  
They shook their heads.  
  
"Come with me!" Izzy ordered.  
  
Silence.  
  
"Then, I guess I have to use underhand measures." Izzy said.  
  
The kids stared at him.  
  
"I knew this would come in handy," Izzy said with an evil smile as he pushed a lever. A bright light shone out and swallowed up all the digidestined.  
  
* * *  
  
"Matt!" Davis exclaimed, surprised as the blonde haired boy landed facedown besides him. "How're here too?"  
  
Matt got up, wincing. "Well," he said, "I thought it better to look for you as I was the one that pushed you into the machine."  
  
"That's nice," Davis said happily.  
  
"Izzy said that we'd be able to return in three hours' time." Matt said.  
  
"That's good," Davis replied. "I guess we can explore in the meantime-"  
  
CRASH!!  
  
The two looked up, startled as the rest of the digidestined appeared, on top of one another, with Izzy at the bottom.  
  
"Hi guys! You've decided to come as well?" Matt said brightly.  
  
The kids crawled off one another.  
  
"Izzy forced us here," Yolei said angrily. "He pushed a lever and we were all zapped here."  
  
Izzy smiled weakly. "Come on guys, this is one hundred percent safe. Nothing bad will happen, trust me."  
  
"what do we do in the meantime?" Joe said. "We have three hours to spare!"  
  
"We shall explore!" Izzy cried cheerfully. He beamed around at the group. "We're in the future, guys! Let's look around!"  
  
"I've always wondered what I'd be like in the future." Sora said with a smile.  
  
The kids finally came to a decision-they'd go around exploring to while away their three hours-and set off.  
  
* * *  
  
"Which part of Odaiba are we in?" Tai mused.  
  
"Everything's changed." Said Ken.  
  
"Of course, dummy," said Cody at once, "25 years have passed!"  
  
"Look! There's Gatomon!" Kari gasped suddenly.  
  
"You brought Gatomon along?" Matt asked in surprise.  
  
"Of course not!" Kari said. "Look-over there!" She cried, pointing.  
  
The kids turned and to their surprise, saw Gatomon running past.  
  
"What's Gatomon doing here?" Tai said. "Last I saw her, she was on my bed, sleeping."  
  
"Gatomon!" called Kari. "Come back! How'd you get here? Hurry, it wouldn't be good if you're seen."  
  
Gatomon gave Kari a puzzled look. "Who're you?"  
  
"Kari!" Kari said, surprised. "Don't you remember me?"  
  
"No. . . and it's really no big deal if I'm seen, really." Gatomon said. "Everyone here knows about digimon."  
  
"They. . .do?" Kari asked slowly.  
  
"Don't you know?" Gatomon stared at the group as though they were crazy.  
  
"I think that Gatomon is not yours, Kari," TK whispered.  
  
Kari nodded in agreement.  
  
The Gatomon ran off.  
  
"Prodigious!" Izzy said, "So people in the future know all about digimon!"  
  
"I wonder what happened to us 25 years later," said Davis.  
  
"It would be cool if we met our future selves!" Ken said. He paused as everyone turned and stared at him. "What's wrong?"  
  
"We saw something. . ." Yolei said softly. She spun Ken around. Ken stared and gasped.  
  
A tall man with chin-length blue hair and wearing what looked like a much bigger version of Ken's school uniform walked past.  
  
"That looks just like you, Ken!" said Mimi.  
  
"And that's not all. . ." murmured Sora as, following the Ken-like person, was no other than Wormmon!  
  
"Wormmon?" Ken cried before he could stop himself.  
  
"Shhhhhhhh!" said everyone. But it was too late. The man looked up, saw Ken, and stared.  
  
"Hey!" said the man.  
  
"What?" said Ken nervously.  
  
The man looked at Ken suspiciously. "Who're you?"  
  
"I don't know. . ." Ken said.  
  
"You don't know who you are?" The man said, looking shocked.  
  
Wormmon came up and saw Ken. "Hey, Ken!" he said to the man, "That kid looks just like you when you were eleven!"  
  
"You're. . . called Ken?" said Ken.  
  
"So what?" said the man.  
  
"Oh, nothing, nothing," Ken said. He turned to the others. "May be we should leave."  
  
The others nodded.  
  
"Wait!" The Ken-man said suddenly. He studied the other kids. "I know these faces!"  
  
"You do?" squeaked Cody. "you know, my mum once said it's not right to speak to strangers."  
  
"You look just like Cody," the Ken-man said.  
  
Cody looked terrified. "How do you know my name?"  
  
"You look just like my friends, except as their younger selves," the man said.  
  
"Maybe we are. . ." Izzy said.  
  
"You see, we travelled 25 years into the future, so of course we'd be adults by then." Izzy explained. "It wouldn't be a surprise to see our adult selves walking about. I think this man is your adult self, Ken!"  
  
"Really." Said Ken.  
  
Izzy turned to the man. "Hi, Ken Ichijouji. How nice to meet your adult form. I'm Koushirou Izumi, but then, I guess there's no need to introduce myself. You should know who I am."  
  
"Yes, I do." Said the Ken-man warmly.  
  
"I really think we should go." Said Ken.  
  
"There's nothing to be scared of." The man said, looking surprised. "What Izzy said makes sense. If you all really travelled into the future, then I'm you! You shouldn't be scared of yourself."  
  
Ken smiled a small smile. "It's not everyday you meet your future self."  
  
"Anyway, we only have three hours to explore this place before we go back to our own time," Yolei said. "I think it's best that we leave. Bye, Ken!"  
  
"It's being really interesting meeting you," Ken said to his grown-up self as they started to leave. "I'm just a bit curious-what are you working as? Are you married? Do you have any kids?"  
  
He nodded. "I'm a detective. I have three kids, and I'm married to Yolei- Miyako Inoue."  
  
The group let out a collective gasp.  
  
"I can't believe it!" Yolei squealed, slowly turning red. "I'll be marrying Ken when I grow up!"  
  
"Me? A detective?" Ken looked stunned. "Wow . . ."  
  
For some strange reason, Joe seemed rather disappointed. 


	2. Chapter Two

"It was so cool, meeting Ken's future self!" Davis exclaimed. "I hope I get to meet MY future self."  
  
Yolei glanced at Ken, giggled, blushed and then looked away.  
  
"I wish," Ken said faintly, "That I never asked my future self whether he was married."  
  
"It's okay," said Matt. "Yolei will get over it. She's just overjoyed, I think."  
  
"Look! A shopping mall! It must be new, I've never seen it before back in our time." Mimi cried suddenly, pointing to a big glass building.  
  
It was a very modern building, with all sorts of interesting new gadgets the kids were very surprised to see. Izzy was very fascinated with the computers. The screen would appear magically and the computer would be switched on when you sat down by it, and then when you stood up to leave, the screen would disappear.  
  
"Look, the bookshop is huge." Matt said in wonder.  
  
The kids entered.  
  
TK picked up a book in the Bestsellers section. "Look, guys! This book is about our adventure!" he read out a few lines. "Tai had disappeared, and everyone in our group thought that he was dead. We slowly fell apart. Hey, I think one of us wrote this."  
  
"It's about the time when stupid Tai went back to the real world." Matt said grumpily.  
  
"And everyone realised MY importance." Tai said grandly.  
  
"Let me see who the author is!" TK said cheerfully. "I wonder which one of us it is! I mean, the book got into the Bestseller List. Let's see. Takeru Takaishi." He gasped. "ME?"  
  
"Whoa, TK, you became an author!" Sora cried, awed.  
  
"They've got an Author's Description here." Davis said, grabbing the book from TK. "Let's see. Takeru Takaishi, one of the original digidestined, is a novelist who writes novels on his adventures when he was young. He lives with his son and his wife in Odaiba, Japan. His pen name is Mr. G."  
  
"Mr. G?" TK looked baffled. "I would never give myself such a dumb pen name!"  
  
"It may have something to do with your favourite colour," Matt told him.  
  
"They've got a photo of TK here," Davis said suddenly. He looked at it and burst out laughing. "Oh, boy, you look like a moron."  
  
"What!" TK said indignantly. He looked at the photo. He looked kind of shocked, but said hastily, "I think I look great."  
  
"Let me see!" Tai cried. All the kids each picked up a copy and flipped to the Author's Description page.  
  
"What did you do to your hair?" Kari gasped, shocked.  
  
"You look like a lion with that hairdo. . ." Joe said.  
  
"Your hair is even longer than my future self's!" Ken added.  
  
"Your clothes are awful." Yolei said, shaking her head.  
  
Matt was laughing non-stop.  
  
TK scowled at him. "Shut up. Your future self might look even worse, you never know."  
  
* *  
  
"Hey, they seem to be having some cook show downstairs." Cody said, peering over the railings.  
  
"Smells heavenly." Said Davis dreamily. "I'm starved."  
  
"There're two people down there, one male and one female." Said Tai.  
  
"Who knows, we might get samples!" Davis cried, licking his lips. "Let's go downstairs!"  
  
Davis dashed for the elevator. At least, they now had what looked like teleporters. All the kids had to do was to enter the teleporter, press a button and they were in their destination in less than a second.  
  
"We present Daisuke Motomiya, who has just returned from America for a visit, to cook his special noodles!" The lady said cheerily.  
  
"I don't leave in America," Davis said, puzzled.  
  
Izzy looked excited. "Don't be stupid, Davis! It's your grown-up self!!"  
"Wow!" Davis cried, delighted. "Amazing! Look at me. . . I look cool. And I live in another country! I must be a real star to have my noodles so known around the world!"  
  
"I wonder who that lady is," Matt said. "She looks pretty attractive."  
  
"It may be my wife!" crowed Davis. "I'm so lucky!"  
  
"Thanks, Mimi," Grown-up Davis was saying. "And after I'm done, my old friend, Mimi Takaichiwa, will also prepare her special broccoli stew. . ."  
  
Mimi looked as though she was going to faint.  
  
"I hope I'm not your future wife," she said.  
  
"How did you grow up to be so pretty?" Izzy gasped in astonishment.  
  
"Look at me!" cried Davis. "I'm making noodles! No machines, see? Wow! It's always been my dream to be a noodle-seller!"  
  
Davis's noodles really did seem to be quite popular. When he finished cooking, the audience queued up eagerly for samples.  
  
"I became a cook?" Mimi said incredulously. "That's so yucky."  
  
"I don't think so," Kari said, surveying the lady. "I think you became one of those hosts in cooking shows on TV. The kind my mum watches."  
  
"It's still yucky," Mimi sighed, "But at least I get to be on TV."  
  
Davis was jumping around with joy at his supposedly great future.  
  
* * *  
  
The kids left the mall a while later.  
  
"I'm still hungry." Davis said. "I wish I had tried my noodles." He sighed. "But Izzy had to stop me. What's the big deal anyway?"  
  
"Davis, I knew you were dumb all along," Izzy said wisely, "I don't want another hassle when you meet your older self."  
  
"How much time has passed, Izzy?" Tai questioned.  
  
Izzy checked his watch. "Approximately forty-five minutes. Two hours and fifteen minutes left."  
  
"I want to see my grown-up self." Cody said. "Oh, look, a kindergarten!"  
  
"Look at all the little kids! They're so cute." Sora cooed.  
  
The group went over to the kindergarten, which still resembled the kindergarten of the present, but larger. The little kids were playing in a large playground with a long slide and a big sandpit.  
  
"Ooh, aren't they just so adorable?" Yolei sighed. She turned to Ken. "Just like you, darling."  
  
Ken looked miserable.  
  
"Do you think any of us work here?" Joe said.  
  
"It might be possible," said Kari. "I hope I do, I love little kids."  
  
"And you act like one too," Tai muttered under his breathe.  
  
"Hi, dearie!" TK, trying to be friendly, knelt down beside a little boy playing in the sandpit. The boy turned to TK and stared. "Hi."  
  
"What are you doing?" TK asked politely.  
  
"Building sandcastles," said the boy.  
  
TK stared at the lump of uneven sand.  
  
"That? Sandcastle?" TK said insensitively. "More like a lump of ugly sand. There, it would look nicer like this." TK took off his hat and put it on top of the lump of sand. "Now it's cookie monster!"  
  
The boy glowered at TK and stomped on the sandcastle, hat and all.  
  
TK cried out in horror.  
  
"Look at that lady there!" Kari said, pointing, "She's talking to a boy. He's wearing something. It's-it's my whistle!"  
  
Cody stared at it. "How can you tell it's yours?"  
  
"I can tell from anywhere!" Kari said. "I've had it for ages."  
  
"Have fun, dear!" The lady told the boy, "I've got to go back to the staff room."  
  
"OK, mummy," the boy answered cheerfully.  
  
"Hey, Kari!" a man called, coming up.  
  
"Oh hi!" Kari smiled at the man.  
  
"I've come to visit Kenny." The man told the lady, "Let's have lunch after work together, ok?"  
  
"Sure, hubby." The lady said.  
  
"How romantic," said Yolei, "The husband visits the wife while she's at work."  
  
"That's me." Said Kari, shocked. "That lady's called Kari, and her son is wearing my whistle."  
  
"It might not be your whistle!" Tai said.  
  
"It is, I know it is!" Kari pointed at the whistle. "See that chipped bit at the corner? You bit it off last time, Tai, when you were seven. You said you were too hungry."  
  
Tai leaned forward. "Oh. . . I see it now. It is your whistle! Cool! I guess you took it from Gatomon and gave it to your so"  
  
"My husband looks like Brad Pitt." Kari said with a sigh.  
  
"Oooooh. . . lurrrrrrrve." Matt cooed.  
  
Davis looked slightly jealous. "Why can't Kari's husband be me?"  
  
TK stormed up to the group just then, holding a very crumpled and sandy hat. "Let's go," he snapped, "Little kids are terrors. We'll just get into trouble staying here!"  
  
* * *  
  
"We have one hour and thirty minutes left!" Izzy announced.  
  
"Where shall we go now?" Cody asked.  
  
"Let's visit the place where our elementary school used to be," said Joe.  
  
The kids agreed and headed off to Odaiba Elementary.  
  
But it was no longer a school.  
  
It was now a hospital! There was a big sign by the automatic door, and it read, "THE DIGIMON HOSPITAL".  
  
"Where's our school gone?!" Davis cried, enraged. "It's not fair! They tore it down and turned it into a hospital!"  
  
"How interesting," Izzy said, "A hospital for digimons."  
  
"Wow, our secret sure leaked out during this period of 25 years." Ken observed.  
  
"This sounds interesting," Joe said, "Let's go in."  
  
"You might faint at the sight of blood, Joey," Mimi teased.  
  
"Do digimons have blood?" Yolei wondered.  
  
The group entered the large building. It was air-conditioned and very advanced. The computers in the hospital were the same as those he kids had seen in the library. Doctors bustled about, wheeling stretchers with sick and unconscious digimons lying on into emergency rooms; and nurses were tending to digimons who were sick or injured, with their anxious owners standing aside.  
  
"May Doctor Joe Kido please come to ward 29 now." A voice blared over the speakers.  
  
"This place is so cool!" cried Cody. He smiled at an armadillomon. "Hi!"  
  
The armadillomon stared at Cody as though he was crazy. "Who are you?" he snapped before walking off.  
  
Cody looked slightly offended. That was when he noticed Joe wobbling on the spot.  
  
"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.  
  
"Did you hear that announcement just now?" Joe whispered.  
  
"What announcement?" Izzy asked, not taking his eyes off a bawling Garbagemon as a nurse gave it an injection.  
  
"The announcement. . .May Doctor Joe Kido please blah blah blah blah blah." Joe exclaimed. "I didn't hear the rest, I nearly fainted upon hearing my name."  
  
"You? A doctor?" Tai stared at Joe incredulously. "It wasn't too long ago when you still wet your pants and faint at the sight of blood!"  
  
"I did hear my name." Joe said stubbornly. "I became a doctor. My dad must be really happy." 


	3. Chapter Three

The kids soon left the hospital without causing much trouble. They were still discussing about Joe's fate as a doctor and Odaiba Elementary School's fate as a Digimon Hospital when they saw a big, grand building. It was about three storeys tall and mostly made of glass. It seemed to be some sort of indoor theatre or something like that. A place where famous people made speeches and stuff, that is. A lot of people were entering the building. The kids headed for a small office near the building. It turned out to be a ticket booth, selling tickets for that day's speeches.  
  
Being curious, the kids headed forward.  
  
"Excuse me," Cody said politely. He had to stand on tiptoe to just reach the ticket booth window. "Can you please tell us what speeches are held today?"  
  
"Let's see," the bespectacled lady behind the counter said. She turned to that superbly modern computer the kids had seen just now. "A speech by Yamato Ishida, the famous astronaut, will be held in ten minutes. It will last for about half an hour. He and his digimon are going to talk about their visit to the moon. Following that is a speech by Professor Koushirou Izumi, giving a speech on science and technology. You probably won't be interested by that."  
  
"Of course we will!" Izzy cried. He was jumping up and down and for some strange reason, panting and spluttering excitedly like a fish out of water.  
  
"You must admire that professor a lot." The lady remarked.  
  
"Er, I, I do!" Izzy cried. "I want a ticket for his speech. How much is it?"  
  
"Ten dollars." Said the lady.  
  
"No problem at all!" said Izzy, fishing out his wallet.  
  
Matt turned to the lady calmly. He did not want to make a fool out of himself, like Izzy did.  
  
"A ticket for the Great Yamato Ishida's speech, please." He said.  
  
"What about us?" Tai asked as the two bought their tickets.  
  
"You guys can stay outside and wait for us." Izzy said.  
  
"HEY!" the kids cried.  
  
"Why don't you come with me, Sora," Matt said kindly. "I won't leave you behind."  
  
"Oh, Matt." Sora whispered, stepping forward.  
  
"One more ticket please," Matt told the lady.  
  
TK was fuming mad.  
  
"Matt could have brought me along instead!" he fumed. "I'm his brother!"  
  
After buying the tickets. Matt and Sora entered the building. Izzy loitered around, looking impatient.  
  
The rest looked at each other.  
  
"They can't leave us out like that," said Davis crossly, "Let's buy our own tickets and go in ourselves."  
  
"Why don't YOU pay," Joe said, "I, for one, don't even have five dollars with me!"  
  
"Yeah!" The others chorused.  
  
"Excuse me!" a stunned voice cried from behind them.  
  
The group turned around and saw a rather good-looking man wearing a suit and holding a briefcase. He looked at the group in amusement. "You guys look familiar. . ."  
  
"We do?" Ken said, suddenly realising who this man might be. "Oh, we do! Which one of us are you? You can't be me. Or Davis. And you're definitely not any of the girls. Or Joe. Or TK. Are you Tai? Or maybe you're Matt! You dyed your hair! Or Izzy! Wow! Or you might be Cody. Not likely."  
  
"Ken, are you okay?" Yolei whispered to the excited boy.  
  
"I'm Cody, actually." Said the man pleasantly. "Please do not judge a book by its cover. I'm a lawyer!"  
  
Cody squealed with joy and fainted.  
  
* * *  
  
"Oooooh, Matt, how can I ever repay your great kindness for bringing me along," Sora whispered.  
  
Matt smiled playfully. "With a kiss, maybe?"  
  
Sora beamed and pecked Matt on the lips. "Ah! That felt so good."  
  
Then, silence fell over the audience and a man stepped on stage with no other than a Gabumon.  
  
"Gabumon! He looks the same as before," Matt whispered.  
  
The crowd began cheering upon seeing the two. Matt studied his future self's looks. "Okay, I guess," he thought to himself. "I look a bit like Dad, though."  
  
The older Matt had launched into a speech about his experience on the moon. Gabumon held up a small piece of moon rock for proof as well. The younger Matt was enthralled. He had never imagined himself becoming an astronaut! But anyway, he seemed even more popular than when he was in the Teenage Wolves, and flying to the moon seemed liked a very good idea.  
  
". . .And now, it is time in which you can ask me questions about anything you like! As long as it's not too private, of course!" the older Matt said with a wink. The audience at once got up from their seats and crowded around eagerly, asking questions and holding out T-shirts, autograph books or stuffed dolls for Matt to sign his name on. Matt and Sora joined the crowd as well.  
  
It took about ten minutes before Matt and Sora managed to question the Older Matt. By then, they were about the last. Older Matt took a look at the two and gasped. He flashed the rest of the puzzled crowd a dazzling smile and ushered the two backstage.  
  
"This is going to take some explaining," Sora sighed.  
  
Older Matt stared at the two of them. "Who are you?" he whispered. "I know your faces. Tell me!"  
  
Matt and Sora managed to make a long story short, and explained everything in just a few minutes. Older Matt looked stunned.  
  
"Where are the rest?" he asked.  
  
"The others are waiting outside," Matt said.  
  
"Tell me," Sora butted in suddenly, "Are you married?"  
  
Older Matt's face turned bitter. "I was," he answered slowly, "But we got a divorce."  
  
Matt looked upset. "Do you have any kids?" he asked.  
  
"Yes," Older Matt answered. "Two kids,"  
  
Sora looked thoughtful for a moment. Then she said, "Whom did you marry and divorce?"  
  
Older Matt looked rather awkward. "It's private."  
  
"Come on!" Matt persisted. "Tell me. I'm you, after all! It won't hurt."  
  
"Yes it will." Older Matt looked at the two. Their arms were around each other. "You should leave it all to fate."  
  
"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?" Sora asked.  
  
"NO!" Older Matt cried, losing his temper suddenly. " Believe me, you wouldn't want to know. Especially since. . ." he sighed deeply. "All I can say is, leave it to fate." He pushed the two out gently. "You better leave. It's about time for the next speech. You have to go."  
  
* * *  
  
As Sora and Matt left the building, feeling very confused, Izzy leaned back against his comfortable seat and waited for the next speech. He hoped Cody could wake up soon. If it were him, he certainly wouldn't faint from meeting his future self! In fact, that was the whole point of this travelling to the future thing. Izzy already had a list of questions planned out. "What do you think of your job? Are you married? Any kids? Tell me about your job! Where do you work in? What's your monthly salary. . ." Izzy had it all planned out.  
  
Izzy also noticed, with much irritation, that the number of people that attended HIS speech didn't seem to be a lot. In fact, less than half the seats were occupied! When Matt and Sora had came out, Matt had triumphantly announced that the seats were all practically taken up during his speech. Sora, on the other hand, kept fretting over whom Older Matt had gotten a divorce with. Izzy had a bad feeling that it was her, but he had thought better not to say anything.  
  
Just then, a red-haired man stepped out. The audience clapped politely. Izzy leaned forward eagerly, wanting to catch a better glimpse of his future self. Izzy had never imagined himself to be able to be so tall! His hair was a lot lesser, though. Izzy touched his hair self-consciously.  
  
Older Izzy's speech might have bored the other digidestined, but not Izzy. He was fascinated by the theories (yawn!) that his older self had thought of! The great computer software he had invented! Izzy was very happy.  
  
When the speech ended, Izzy dashed up to his older self while the rest of the audience left. "Excuse me!" he called. "Excuse me!"  
  
Older Izzy turned. His eyes nearly popped out of its sockets when he saw Izzy. Izzy ran up. "Hullo!" he cried.  
  
Older Izzy looked bewildered.  
  
Before Older Izzy could do anything, Izzy began explaining about why he was here. Then he began his questions.  
  
"Are you married?"  
  
"Yes." Said Older Izzy.  
  
"Do you have any kids?"  
  
"Yes, I have a daughter." Said Older Izzy.  
  
"What's your-"  
  
"She's seven this year and very adorable! We dress her up in different dresses everyday. She loves lollipops."  
  
"Do you like your-"  
  
"Wait! I'm not done yet!" Older Izzy exclaimed. "Don't you want to hear about your future child? We named her Ivy. She's so cute! She's very interested in my theories. She understands practically every one of them! She's a genius. She-"  
  
"But. . ."  
  
"WAIT! She studies in a school for geniuses. Her teacher says she's a very curious and clever child. Oh dear," he glanced at his watch. "I've got to pick Ivy up from school! Bye!"  
  
"Wait." Izzy faltered. But Older Izzy was gone. Izzy slumped to the floor and moaned. His unanswered questions! 


	4. Chapter Four

Izzy slumped out of the building dejectedly. He felt depressed just thinking about the golden opportunity he had missed. It wasn't everyday that you could meet your grown-up self, and Izzy had had a lot of questions to ask. But his future self turned out to be some obsessed daddy!  
  
Then he stopped and stared. The sight that greeted him was kind of shocking. Cody was lying sprawled on the ground. The rest of the digidestined were kneeling down by the unconscious figure, trying to wake him up. There was also a man standing next to them, looking amused.  
  
Izzy ran forward. "What happened?" he asked worriedly.  
  
"Cody's been unconscious for about an hour already!" Tai exclaimed.  
  
"Why?" Izzy was stunned.  
  
Kari pointed at the man. "See him? He's Cod's future self. Cody fainted when he realised that."  
  
"And I thought it was something bad!" Izzy cried. "How could Cody faint! He's wasting his time. He should be chatting up with his future self now!"  
  
"Urnnnnnnnnnn. . ." Cody moaned just then. Everybody peered at him anxiously. Slowly, Cody's eyes opened. He sat up, took a look at his future self and turned crimson red.  
  
"Did I scare you?" Older Cod asked worriedly.  
  
"No!" Cody said at once. "I was just over-excited. Don't mind me."  
  
Izzy marched up to Older Cod and smiled at him.  
  
"Izzy!" Older Cod cried, looking stunned. "How nice it is to see you! As your younger self, I mean. I've practically forgotten how you looked like."  
  
"You said you were a lawyer?" Cody asked suddenly. "Have you taken on any big cases?"  
  
"Not really," said Older Cod. "I took on a rather interesting case once, though. It involved a strange guy who liked to steal red boxers."  
  
"Where're you heading for?" Cody asked, as the others looked slightly disgusted.  
  
"I was going to a restaurant to meet up with Tai." Older Cod replied, glancing at Tai (the young one) with a smile.  
  
"Wow!" Tai said. "How am I?"  
  
"You became the ambassador of Digiworld." Older Cod told him. "And you finally got rid of that bushy mane." He tweaked a bunch of Tai's hair.  
  
"I WHAT?" Tai gasped. "I vowed never to cut my hair in a different hairstyle! I like the way it is right now."  
  
"Frankly," Older Cod said, "I like your new hairstyle better. I remember how that hair of yours kept blocking my view when we were young. I was too polite to make any comments. After all, you're my senior."  
  
"You could have said something!" said Tai, glancing at the younger Cody, who smiled sheepishly and shrugged.  
  
"I sure hope you'll not late." Mimi said.  
  
"Oh, don't worry, I set off early." Said Older Cod. "Anyway, Tai's always late. He's a busy guy. I know he had an appointment with a particular Garbagemon earlier today."  
  
Tai was rendered speechless. "Is my job very grand?" he asked.  
  
"Face it!" said Matt. "You're an ambassador! Of course you're grand!"  
  
"Hey!" said Izzy suddenly, looking worried. "Why don't we meet up with Tai's future self now, er, Mr. Hida?" he turned to the group. "We'll be zapped back to our own time in approximately half an hour."  
  
"That's fast!" said Yolei.  
  
"Do you mind if we go along with you?" Joe asked Older Cod. "We could like to meet Tai's future self. Is it okay?"  
  
"Looks like we'll never meet our future selves at this rate," Sora said to Yolei grumpily.  
  
"Look at the bright side!" Yolei sang out. "It'll be an interesting surprise. Besides, I'll be married with Ken, and nothing else matters!"  
  
"Matt's future self told us that he got divorced with someone," said Sora, looking extremely worried. "I want to know who it is, but he wouldn't tell."  
  
"Some things are better not known," Yolei said wisely. "Come on, let's go."  
  
* * *  
  
Older Tai looked very weird without his big bushy hair.  
  
Of course, he still had hair, and it was still a bit big, but nothing compared to the mane he had when he was younger. He was dressed in a suit and seemed pretty amazed to see the kids. But after Older Cod had explained, he smiled at them warmly.  
  
"Hullo," he said.  
  
Tai stepped forward. He was trembling, which was very unlike him. Nobody knew if it was due to fear or excitement. Tai grinned nervously.  
  
"Are you married?" he asked.  
  
"Yup!" said Older Tai. "She's a charming lady! We have a little boy, and I'm making sure that his hair will be bigger than ever!"  
  
"But why did you cut it?" Tai asked sadly. "No matter what everyone else says, I still think the old hairstyle looks better."  
  
Older Tai smiled, but said nothing. He turned to the rest of the group. "Hi!"  
  
"Hi!" the others chorused.  
  
"Well!" said Older Tai. "It must be really brilliant of you, Izzy, to invent such a time machine! Are you sure you'll all be able to make it back?"  
  
"Sure!" said Izzy confidently. He checked his watch once more. "Twenty more minutes to go!"  
  
"That's very little time," said Older Tai. "What do you all plan to do?"  
  
"Well, we met all our future selves, except for Sora and Yolei," said Izzy.  
  
"Why don't we just spend the rest of the twenty minutes sitting around and drinking coffee?" Cody asked, beaming at Older Cod.  
  
"We could get something to eat as well," added Davis hopefully. "We haven't eaten for a very long time! I shall say it again-I'm starved!"  
  
"This is just like the old Davis we all know," Older Cod said fondly.  
  
"I guess we'll just grab a quick bite and than go back later," said Kari.  
  
"Ok," the others agreed. Then Davis was gone. Too impatient to wait for the waiter to come and serve the group, he had gone to find the waiter first.  
  
The other kids settled down to chat, and were soon deep in conversation with Older Tai and Cod. After a few minutes, Davis returned triumphantly with a rather annoyed waitress. The kids ordered their food.  
  
The familiar tinkling of bells rang out. The bells were attached to the restaurant door and when the door was opened, the bells would make a tinkling sound. It signalled that the customers were either entering or leaving. At the next tinkling, Older Cod looked up, beamed, and waved. "Look who's there!" he said to the group. "It's Sora and Yolei!"  
  
"What?" The two girls cried at once, leaping up from their table and turning. Two ladies were walking over to their tables. They wore stunned expressions on their faces as they looked at the twelve digidestined.  
  
"We look so pretty!" Yolei whispered. 


	5. Chapter Five

The familiar looks of disbelief and shock could be seen on Older Sora and Yolei's faces as Older Tai waved them over.  
  
Izzy was quick to jump in and explain everything. As soon as they understood, Yolei jumped over to her older self immediately.  
  
"Tell me," she breathed excitedly, "Is Ken a good husband?"  
  
Older Yolei was looking in amusement at Ken, who had his mouth wide open as though he couldn't believe that Yolei would grow up looking like that.  
  
"Not bad, I guess." She replied.  
  
"Wow!" Yolei's eyes were shining. "I heard that you-I-had kids. How'd you manage to stay slim?"  
  
"I went for a slimming programme after my pregnancy and weekly facials as well." Said Older Yolei. "Slimming programmes have become very effective by the year 2027!"  
  
Sora was also deep in conversation with her future self.  
  
"Are you married?" she asked.  
  
"Well. . ." said Older Sora slowly. "I'm currently single. . ."  
  
"What about Matt?" Sora asked. "Why aren't you with him?"  
  
Matt looked very uncomfortable.  
  
"We're not meant to be a couple, believe me," said Older Sora, smiling at her. "But we're friends!"  
  
"Friends?" Sora looked slightly disappointed. "Better than nothing, I guess. Tell me about your job. . ."  
  
"This is so cool," said Yolei. She suddenly threw her arms around Izzy and hugged him tightly. "I change my mind about your time machine. IT'S GREAT! If you never made us try it I'd never have found out about my blissful future with darling Ken! ARIGATO, IZZY!"  
  
Izzy smiled weakly.  
  
"How much more time have we got?" Kari asked Izzy.  
  
Izzy freed himself from Yolei's grasp and checked his watch. "Well, we have about ten minutes left."  
  
"What do you mean?" Older Yolei asked, looking puzzled.  
  
"We have ten minutes left before we go back to our own time." Explained Joe.  
  
"So fast?" Older Yolei looked very disappointed. "I wanted to invite you guys over to my house. It's my baking day and I'm making fruitcake! It's my speciality."  
  
"Oooooooooooh!" exclaimed Yolei. She looked extremely upset. "O Izzy, is there any way we can make our time here last longer?"  
  
Izzy shook his head. "Sorry, Yolie. But I have no idea. And it's no use going back to our own time and using the time machine to get here again. It'll be too much work for my poor machine and it'll self-combust. We have. . .five minutes left."  
  
"So fast?" said TK in surprise.  
  
"You said it." Said Izzy. "So I think everyone should be mentally prepared as in just a few minutes, we'll be zapped back to our own time. It's not a very pleasant experience, I think."  
  
Davis sighed. "The food here is simply delicious." He moaned with joy. "Before we leave, I'm buying some to take back. You should try this mango pudding! And this roast chicken!"  
  
"Four minutes." Announced Izzy.  
  
"It was nice seeing you," Tai said sadly to his future self. "At least I know I won't be a school dropout and make my parents sad. My grades have been failing lately."  
  
"Yeah, I remember that." Said Older Tai. "And mum grounded me and Kari was highly amused! Am I right?"  
  
Tai nodded. "You remember!" he cried. "My punishment ended just yesterday."  
  
Cody turned to Older Cod and bowed.  
  
"Bye bye." He said. Then he looked up at Older Cod. "Uh, is my grandpa still here?"  
  
Older Cod looked serious. "He's dead. He died ten years ago."  
  
"What?" shrieked Cody.  
  
"He died in his sleep." Older Cod said. "It was quite peaceful. Come on, it's all right," he added, as Cody started to cry. "Don't be sad. It was just his time to go."  
  
"We have a few more seconds left," said Izzy, who seemed reluctant to spoil the moment. "How about a last goodbye?"  
  
Yolei and Sora hugged their older selves respectively, and Tai and Older Tai shook hands. Cody bowed to his older self once more.  
  
"Three. . .two. . .one." said Izzy slowly.  
  
ZAP!  
  
The kids were gone.  
  
"Well, they're gone." Said Older Sora with a small smile. "It was wonderful seeing them."  
  
* * *  
  
"WHOA!" the kids gasped as they all landed on top of one another in Izzy's bedroom.  
  
"We're back!" Ken exclaimed.  
  
"I wished I had time to try the fruitcake." Yolei said.  
  
"You can at least try the roast chicken I brought back!" said Davis cheerfully. "Uh-oh. Matt, you're sitting on my food!"  
  
"Ewwwwwww." Said Yolei. "I'm not going to eat food that has been sat on, Davis. Sorry."  
  
"Matt, how can you do this!" hollered Davis. "This chicken is genuinely from the future! Now I have to wait for 25 years before I can eat it again!"  
  
"I'm sure there's nice roast chicken in the present too," Matt said meekly.  
  
"How about this?" Izzy asked excitedly, "Once the machine has gotten its rest, we'll go back to the PAST! When we're still little babies! How's that?"  
  
"SURE!" the other kids cried.  
  
~The End~ 


End file.
